“Becky Shaw,” South Coast Repertory Theater through Nov. 21
Playwright Gina Gionfriddo was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for “Becky Shaw.” After seeing the show in Costa Mesa, the only surprising thing about the nomination is that the play didn’t win the prize outright.
Under director Pam MacKinnon, South Coast Repertory’s production stands to win over audiences.
“Becky Shaw” orbits around a blind date gone horribly wrong. The play’s namesake Becky is an awkward girl who has failed at nearly everything she has attempted, including dressing like “a birthday cake” on the blind date. Max, the other half of the blind date, is a well-heeled, self-absorbed money manager.
From the outset, the date is a mismatch. Becky’s lack of owning a cell phone leads Max to ask, “Is my date Amish?”
The landscape rapidly changes as Becky proves to be far more than a blithering fool and Max far less than the picture-perfect businessman. The play “is a moral discovery,” according to Gionfriddo, with the characters “wrestling with their best and worst selves.”
“I wanted to explore how money—who has it and who doesn’t—comes to bear on a romantic relationship,” Gionfriddo said.
As a writer on “Law and Order” and “Cold Case” and now a supervising producer for HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” Gionfriddo has an eye for modern-day morality plays.
The cast of “Becky Shaw” includes South Coast Repertory veteran Angela Goethals as the human quagmire that is Becky, and SCR newcomer Brian Avers (of “NCIS: Los Angeles” fame) as Max.
Director and longtime Gionfriddo collaborator Pam MacKinnon (a Gionfriddo “repeat offender” as she calls herself) has crafted a show that is funny and gut-wrenchingly powerful. The ability to craft a comedy into a partial tragedy is truly a gift.
The production is rounded out by a creative rotating stage and clever set design by Daniel Ostling, costumes by Sara Ryung Clement, lighting by Lap Chi Chu, and original music by Michael K. Hooker.
—Robert Palmer is a lawyer with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Irvine and an arts buff.
